This is what Wellbeing project has achieved since 2015 - Pereira

The Wellbeing project has played a critical role in proving the connection between change maker wellbeing and the outcomes of social change.

Wellbeing project co-lead Aaron Pereira has said that has been achieved through research conducted among a group of change makers.

Pereira noted that the five years research involved following a group of 120 change makers looking at as they supported their own wellbeing and what shifted in the way that they did social change work.

“What shifted is that they became more sustainable, more balanced, they were able to live more fully, their work also became much more sustainable, they became much more innovative and collaborative,” he said.

He said that all these factors are really important in the field of social change.

He further noted that the project has been able to convene more than 1,200 organisations including at least 15 universities across the world.

The aim has been to work with them to figure out how to weave a well-being orientation into their curriculum and into their experience for students that are being trained to go into social change related fields.

These include social work, public interest law, environmental work and the whole broad range of social change such as doctors and nurses.

“There has been a dramatic shift in the way these students are educated, and it is continuing to develop and unfold so we have worked with these 1,200 organisations that are leading institutions and networks so that together we provide support for over 2.5 million change makers around the world,” Pereira said.

According to Pereira, the project has also been able to do collaborative storytelling by partnering with media publications such as the India Development Review (IDR) to do ongoing series.

The series looks at topics in the field, connecting inner organisational, societal and ecological wellbeing and are read by millions of people worldwide.

“It takes topics seen as taboo, invisible and gives people real content that they can understand and become more educated about,” he said.

He further noted that with the ongoing regional summits being hosted across the world, there have been a creation of a larger community that meets to discuss, engage and learn from each other.

The summit hosted in Nairobi between July 18 and 19 brought together 300 change makers from the country with a few from other countries.

He said what has been extraordinary is the number of people who are beginning to talk about how they would like to come together, and create a community that looks at how they can continue to work with this concept and apply it in their lives and organisations.

He said that by ongoing summits that are pulling people together, it means that the real work of creating a culture will be happening.

Wellbeing project is the global focal point for advancing a culture of wellbeing in social change.